Genotype
by The Samurai Poet
Summary: The reaction between Green’s ranger power and tainted blood can cause changes within him. GreenCrimson
1. One

I don't know what to say about this one. I think I combined my love of genetics and heredity with writing and Power Rangers. It leads for a rather interesting final product, and I guess this is proof that I think way too much.

It seems to me that the whole evil family thing is something that has to do with the Watanabe pedigree, in which I pieced together for another story that might never be finished and published. Kiya and Kannoi's parents passed this trait onto them, noting that the parents were heterozygous for this trait (Ee; evil is recessive in this theory). Kiya was the one who was homozygous recessive (ee) and expressed it, while Kannoi was the heterozygous child.

Now, after knowing this, I believe that Miko was homozygous recessive as well, but didn't get the chance to express her genotype, or had it trained or bound magically out of her system. However, as Kannoi and Miko had Cam, his genotype turned out to be homozygous recessive and not yet expressed, or he had a low tolerance passed on to him from his mother.

How you can have a gene for evil, I have no idea.

Now, even though this is irrelevant to this story, If Cam had a child with a 'normal' person, meaning that they weren't from a ninja family or any other bloodline that contains inherited powers, the child would be homozygous recessive and express it in the mid to late twenties. If Cam had a child with someone from an elaborate pedigree like himself, there is a chance that it would be heterozygous… Like I said earlier, I think too much about things that don't matter.

This story starts directly when the genes are becoming phenotypic, or expressed. I think this story is set somewhere after The Samurai's Journey episodes… but Guinea Pig Sensei would be kind of hard to write in this story, so, to make things easier for myself and make this more comprehensible, Sensei is in his normal state.

Will be continued based off of the feedback I gain.

Standard Disclaimer.

--

Cameron found his fingers flying across the unmarked keyboard faster than usual. He didn't necessarily take an urgent notice of the new action, but he continued to work on the task at hand. The development of the new weapon was crucial to the future successes of the other Rangers, but he couldn't help but to think that he should be creating new weapons for himself.

The Samurai stopped his typing and looked down at his callused hands. Something about his fingerprints fascinated him, and he soon broke their spell and looked back towards the screen. His limbs became slightly foreign, and he moved his hands to his amulet, wanting to feel the familiar cold of the comforting metal. His stomach gave a small lurch, and he knew something was changing him. He tried to occupy himself with reading the ones and zeroes in his coding, but yet he felt himself slip away as he mouthed out the numerary language.

A hand on his shoulder brought him back to solid reality, and he tensed. The Samurai quickly spun around, and confronted a slightly startled ninja. The blonde's hand had moved away in the sudden movement, and Cam found his eyes lingering on where it currently resided.

"What's wrong with you now?" he heard the young ninja say, and his gaze moved up to the Thunder's eyes, "Is the caffeine making you jittery again?" Cam's eyebrows furrowed as he moved out of the chair and onto his feet. He started to retort at Hunter's comment, but his legs seemed to fail him, and he fell. The ninja quickly came to his aid, and the familiar hands were holding his back and his forearm.

The ninja continued to hold on, and Cam finally found his footing and supported his own weight. He pulled away from the younger man's embrace and walked away, muttering a small thanks as he made his way outside. The Samurai felt Hunter follow him, and as he continued to make his way deeper into the Academy grounds, he turned around and confronted the younger man.

"What do you want now?" the older man hissed out. He saw the Thunder move closer until their bodies almost touched. "You should be resting or something," - the ninja had said, his hands moving out to catch the Samurai in an embrace - "I don't like what just happened."

Cam's eyes widened behind his black frames. "Are you saying that-" The blonde had cut him off by placing a finger on his opened lips. "Yes, I did see everything. I wanted to see if you wanted to spar with me, but it looked like something was wrong. I touched you when it looked like it was getting really bad." Cam felt some unnatural anger swell in his body, as he forcefully removed himself from the blonde's grip. He deftly made a roundhouse kick - aimed for the taller man's side, but it was blocked with staggering strength - and caused the Thunder to lose balance and tumble to the side.

The Samurai was fighting within himself. Normally he would be annoyed and feel touched that the blonde had cared, but yet something was different, something raged on inside of him as if that trance could pinpoint the weird things that were happening to him. The Thunder showed his surprise and uncertainty on his face as the technician withdrew and landed a strong elbow into the blonde.

Hunter quickly doubled over, but he jumped back and narrowly missed the other elbow aimed for his forehead. Cam cursed his predictability and kicked out, cursing aloud as the Thunder caught his foot. The blonde said something, but yet it was irrelevant; the younger man had wanted to spar, and why not give him what he wanted?

The Samurai released his foot while maintaining perfect balance and kicked out once again, releasing a torment of blows that the ninja could only block scarcely with his palm. On his last kick, the ninja blocked with a force that caused him to fall backwards. As soon as he hit the ground, the Samurai disappeared into the dark dirt, thanking his knowledge of the Earth Ninja's technique.

'What's wrong with you, Cam?' a voice desperately said within his mind. 'Isn't this what you wanted?' - the Samurai found himself responding without any true thought - 'Didn't you want to train, to fight?' The blonde had started to reply, but Cam ejected him from his mind and made himself present once again above the soil.

The ninja had cunningly set some sort of trap for him, and something reminiscent of ropes - bearing the darkest shade of red possible - raced through the fallen leaves and sliced at his uniform and skin as it wrapped around his form. They held some sort of life as they vibrated against his flesh; it seemed like they were leeching off of his electric aura. When he tried to move, he found that they absorbed faster, and caused him to become slightly drowsy.

Cam saw the blonde appear in front of him, and he tensed as a gentle hand stroked his face. The electric ropes continued to hold him steadfast, if not stronger. He continued to struggle despite the losing battle, and as the blonde wrapped his arms around his frame, the draining took on a soothing effect, causing him to faint within the Thunder's embrace.

"It's as I suspected." Hunter looked around, and soon Sensei Watanabe appeared from behind a tree. The blonde broke away from the limp Samurai and bowed respectfully as he spoke, "… What do you mean?" The teacher walked to the side of the Thunder, inspecting his son on a closer level. "Cam's Samurai Powers… the Amulet and everything that came with it is destroying him from the inside." Hunter tried to speak, but the older man continued, as if knowing his question.

"Cam's blood was tainted from his mother and I. Right before Lothor left the Wind Academy, he managed to curse my firstborn into becoming just like him. What sacrifice he made in return, I am unsure, but it seems like it is coming true."

"Is there some way to prevent it from taking over him?" Sensei frowned and shook his head as he broke the ropes tangled around his son. "If there is, I don't know about it, and I'd usually have him look up…" The ninja master took his son into his arms and turned back to the Thunder. "… I'll have Tori look into it. In the mean time, inform the other Rangers and return to Ninja Ops after that task is finished."

Hunter bowed again, and the older man streaked off for the hidden operation. The blonde ran towards his motorcycle, knowing where exactly to find the other three Rangers.

If Cam were completely taken over by darkness, would the Samurai still notice him as he did before? He disregarded his thoughts and locked them away within himself. If he was going to do his assignment properly, he couldn't let any personal emotions get in the way.

But the thing that scared him the most was… would he personally chose evil again just to remain next to the Samurai?

--

Hunter continued to think more about what Sensei said as he rode down the mountain path at a reckless speed. If it was true that the Watanabe's had some weird evil gene in their bloodline, wouldn't that mean that his parents were ninjas? He could remember when Sensei Omino first told him and Blake about their natural talents, and this was what made them into Rangers.

Did this imply that he and Blake had a connection with some elaborate line?

If anything, he could remember the anger he felt as Lothor told him that Sensei Watanabe killed his foster parents. Was this what the ninja master meant by 'destroying him from the inside'? Was this anger the destructive force that caused his own recessive gene to become dominant, if he was indeed mixed for this trait?

The blonde stopped his bike at a red light, and rubbed his forehead. If Tori knew as much as Cam did about genetics, maybe she could identify his own pedigree… He continued on as the light turned green, and he found himself a spot to park in the Storm Chargers' parking lot.

'Dustin… Blake, you two in there?'

The voices of Yellow and Navy rang clear in his mind as they replied. 'Is Shane in there with you two?' This time, only Yellow responded, 'I think he's at the skate park with his brother…'

'Is something wrong?' Navy voiced out, apparently busy within the store.

'Sensei Watanabe needs you guys back at Ninja Ops as soon as possible. It seems like Cam is going through something… and all of us are needed.'

--

Tori sat to the low wooden tale within the 'lobby' of Ninja Ops, splitting her time into studying for an upcoming economics test and looking up information on Ninja History. The entrance of Sensei caught her off guard as she saw Cam unconscious in his hold. She scrambled up to her feet and bowed quickly as he came closer.

"Sensei… what's wrong with him?" she asked as she cleared off the table quickly and the ninja master to lie his son down. "Did Cam ever teach you how to use the Super Computer?" Tori looked up at her teacher after putting her scrolls and textbooks into her bag. "… I know a few things about data accessing and surveillance, but he never had the time to teach me everything…"

"Do you think you can look up anything on gene repression in either a scientific field or a shamanistic one?" The kunoichi nodded and moved to the computer, sitting down and immediately pulled open one of the Super Computer's vast libraries of information. Sensei looked on as he sat to the table, keen on any movement that the Samurai made.

After a few minutes of searching and many new windows, the kunoichi voiced her findings to her teacher, "There's nothing so far on scientific gene repression… I don't think any normal technology is up to date to do things such as that. But there are a few files that seem to lead onto a scroll that certain people can call onto to do what you're talking about." She typed quickly, and a diagram of an ancient scroll appeared on the screen. "It seems like the archives have a few quotes from it… but it says that the actual scroll is…"

The Dolphin was shocked at what the screen displayed. She refreshed the screen repeatedly, but it continued to display the same information. She turned around in the chair, her face grave, and concluded her sentence. "… Lothor is in possession of the scroll."


	2. Two

Alchemists of Ninjetti…

The word Ninjetti isn't used in the same context as the earlier Power Rangers. I couldn't think of the word I actually wanted to use but Ninjetti works; if you think of the falcon and crane as air; the bear, the ape, and the wolf as earth; and the frog as water. But then again, I might end up dragging those principles into this story, thus making this story more difficult for me to comprehend and write.

And now to explain about the Alchemist part of the title, in which fits perfectly into the series in general. Since Earth, Water, and Air are the basic elements in the Ninja Storm world and the basic elements in medieval alchemy; they are the Alchemists. The Crimson and Navy branches of the Thunder Academy are just smaller parts of the Air element (thus supporting Shane when he and Hunter fought about leadership), and if a Thunder ninja and an Air ninja fought against each other at their maximum power that seemed to be level with another… Air would still win, since he could prevent the Thunder from using his maximum power.

But, even though the Ninjetti powers were gained from another planet, they still expressed traits from the Japanese ninjas, and so in actuality, the six that formed the Ninjetti could have been from Earth, but journeyed to another planet to keep their powers from being corrupted.

If you want to talk about my logic more thoroughly, you could easily e-mail me at the address supplied on my bio.

Now, onto the second chapter!

--

Darkness. It consumed his vision, making his mind weak and vulnerable. It played around his lidded eyes, and taunted him when he opened them. He made his aura become visible, and it played as a flashlight. The expanses of his conscious – he was sure that he was locked within himself for the time being – had been more than this when he forced himself here in meditation. His solitude was a forest reminiscent of the one surrounding the Academy… something he had discovered while young, but seemed to forget it's whereabouts as he became older.

He pulled himself off of the ground, and checked around. Everything was bright as if it was daytime as his forest lay out in front of him. His forest… his mind… something was inside of them both that didn't belong. He could sense the teasing moments of another presence… the Samurai ran within the dense flora, not noticing that the plants wilted and died as soon as he passed them.

--

Hunter went straight towards the skate park where the Eagle could be found if he wasn't working or training. As soon as he stepped off of his bike, A Kelzack had waved to him, enticing him to follow before the leader of the Winds could even confirm his aura. Hunter abandoned his mission and fled off into the woods, making sure that the Eagle never knew of his presence.

The chase had lead him into the woods, and he had noticed that some of the trees were plastered with talismans… 'It must be a trap, but if Lothor knew about the search, he must be willing to bargain if he had sent a Kelzack to find me.' He couldn't help but to be immensely rash as he followed the black figure into a clearing that screamed out 'ambush!'.

As soon as he made it into the middle, Lothor had appeared, with the strongest of his large army.

--

"Even if we could manage to retrieve the scroll from Lothor… we don't have any shamans in the school… and none that are affiliated with us." Tori closed all of the windows she had opened in her search, and left the computer in its normal standby mode. "The only thing that I can think of is to talk with other schools… but that's not an option."

Sensei nodded, and the kunoichi sat to the table, making sure not to disturb the Samurai. "What kind of 'certain people' can do this… besides shamans?" Tori shook her head while fidgeting with her uniform. "People who have a vast knowledge and practice of Dark Powers… leading back to Lothor again.

…Or the Scroll of Time could be used, and someone could be trained… but that's just too risky." The Dolphin looked up, and two of her comrades walked into the operation and bowed out of habit and respect as they came closer to the ninja master. Blake had smiled and waved as he sat next to her, and Dustin had sat next to Sensei with a questioning look.

"Hunter told us that something was going on… and so we came as soon as possible."

Dustin nodded, agreeing with the words of the younger Thunder. Sensei sighed and explained, having Tori help him with some of the lengthy conversation.

--

The Samurai had made it to the center of the woods. He looked around, and the path of destruction he left behind petrified him. He started to turn back to look at the plants he had killed unintentionally, but a white clad figure appeared. On closer inspection, the figure was a woman… Miko. He gasped and walked closer as he saw her abdomen bleed profusely onto her beautiful gown.

"Mom… I-I… what's wrong?" – he had managed to stutter as she bore into his soul with sad eyes – "What happened to you?" She took his outreached hands with her own and pulled him close. He had tried to rip strips off of his own clothing to try to bandage her wound, but her strong yet feminine hands stopped him.

"Cam… you have to listen to me… I came here for a reason. I have to warn you about your destiny." The younger Samurai looked into his mother's eyes as he pulled back just enough to look her in the face. "Don't let my fate be yours… I birthed Darkness, and so it was finished with me. The Evil inside of me that was never released poisoned my body. It made me deteriorate… It made me die." Cam separated from his mother and fingered the hole in her dress.

She wrapped her fingers around his wrist, "Are you sure?" He nodded; this was the only way he could come to terms of how the valiant Samurai died. Miko moved his hand into her body, and Cam gasped at what he felt.

Cold enveloped his hand, and he could feel the Darkness she was speaking of try to burn his hand, mistaking it for her organ tissue. His mother moved his hand out before the beast could work its destructive force on his flesh, and it was covered in blood.

Miko pulled to her son again, and rested her hands on his shoulders. "I don't want my baby boy to die so pitifully like I did."

She squeezed harder, and his tears fell on her elaborately stained dress. He mourned her as she was in his arms until she became nothing more than a warm breeze. He savored in it until he opened his eyes, and the lush forest had become nothing more than a barren wasteland.

--

"So what are we supposed to do about this scroll?"

"Well," – Sensei had started, feeling exasperated – "We could try to send someone pretending to be corrupt to gain access to his spaceship and steal the scroll, but that takes too much time on weakened trust."

"Is there some way we could capture someone like Zurgane and go to their base disguised as him?" – Dustin had said after thinking about the situation – "That means that Blake still has to go… since he does know his way around."

"I'll be more than willing to go. I just hope that Cam can be… 'fixed', for lack of a better word."

"Well, all that leaves now is the plan to capture one of the generals." Sensei stood to his feet, ready to meditate and try to come up with the strategy that they needed. "I believe that this meeting is over then." The students stood to their feet and bowed respectfully as the older man turned to walk away.

Blake sighed, "I wonder what happened to Hunter." Sensei had turned at the Thunder's words, surprise written on his face. "… Hunter never told Shane to report to Ninja Ops?" The shorter Thunder scratched his head. "He implied that he had to find Shane, but I'm not sure if he actually ran off to tell him."

Tori's hands flew to her mouth as she inhaled abruptly.

"What if he went to confront Lothor about the scroll?!"

--

Hunter knew that this meeting was very dangerous. He knew that the older ninja couldn't be trusted, but the future of the Samurai meant more than his life. He inched closer, wary of the presence of Zurgane and the other evil generals. A Kelzack grabbed him from behind, and he didn't fight it.

"What do you want Hunter?"

The blonde fought the minion's grip as the words of ignorance rang through his ears. He didn't move far, however, as it turned out to be a Fury holding him back. "You know why I'm here! I want that goddamn scroll you have that can make Cam go back to normal!" The red Kelzack behind him kicked at his knee, and he fell to the ground. The talismans that he saw on the trees must've been something to drain his Thunder Power.

However, being stripped of his powers and vulnerable like this was nothing compared to what the Samurai was going through, so he knew that he could manage on his own.

"So… you're saying that my precious nephew is finally going through his transformation? Then I know how much you must thirst for this…" The evil ninja reached from behind his back and pulled out a large scroll that was decorated with Cam's Samurai symbol on the ends.

"Please give me that scroll!" – Hunter cried out, trying to drag himself and his captor towards the older man. He had lost all rationality as the evil ninja started to open the scroll and feign reading it as he walked closer. "What if I don't want to give it to you? I could always use my nephew to help me to take over this planet." – he snapped the scroll shut inches from the Thunder's face, and stared into the Thunder's icy glare – "… There's nothing like having someone of his strength on the side of Darkness… even though he might end up breaking away from my control and take over Earth on his own."

"What do you mean 'take over Earth on his own'? He's nothing but one man! And if it even got that far, five ninjas are more than enough to take him down!"

Lothor straightened his posture and smiled. "Do you seriously think one such as Cam could be stopped by five petty ninjas when he has the blood of two powerful clans running through his veins? Do you think that one born with all of this inherited power, and vast expertise on the Alchemists of Ninjetti and most of their less powerful branches, could fall to five brats who only showed small traces of talent to become lowly foot ninjas?"

Hunter growled loudly, and another Kelzack Fury was assigned to restrain him. 'The talismans must be weakening,' – he thought to himself – 'and if that's the case, I could take the scroll by force and streak away…'

"Even though, sometimes it would be better if my nephew were a purebred ninja. His Samurai heritage might cause him to commit suicide… you know how honorable they are." Lothor smiled as the blonde's eyes widened. "As I figure, he'd probably vomit at the thought of killing all of those people after one of the premature spells wear off. He'd be so wracked with guilt and dishonor for his mother that he'd feel the power of his ancestors force him to take his life… Unless his spells come late in the cycle, and he has no time to feel compassion for anyone… Not even you or his father.

"Samurai are difficult to control when they're borderline… I learned my lesson with his mother when I wanted her Samurai powers. They have a tendency to lean towards honor and what's just, despite how corrupted they are. Miko knew that she was evil… she knew that she was designed to decompose and become something wicked, but her family tried to squash her destiny. They tried to cure her with this and caused the Darkness to eat her organs like acid…"

Lothor held up the scroll again, and Hunter's eyes were drawn to it.

"…Death is in Cam's destiny as well; whether it's the death of others, or the death of himself. And even if that wasn't the case…what could you possibly give me in return for this?"

Hunter knew what the older man was aiming at, but he knew he had to take the bait.

"… I'd come back into your service."


End file.
